Prior,
Guy Percival Underdown (1872-1950)

Probably born in England since his medical
qualifications are English, and he died at West Ryde, Sydney, N.S.W.,
on 27 March 1950.

He arrived in
Adelaide in 1899 and joined the Public Service of New South Wales in
1903 after practising as a general practitioner in Penola, S.A., and
later being on the staff of the Naval Hospital in Fiji. He
then specialized in mental and associated disorders, and was Medical
Superintendent of Rydalmere Mental Hospital (1914-26) and of Parramatta
Mental Hospital (1926- 36). At one period he was Acting
Inspector.General of Mental Hospitals in New South Wales.

The
papers he wrote appear to be restricted to medical subjects, for
example, The Endocrines and Mental Disorders, Med. J. Aust. (31
October 1925) and Syphilis and Neurosyphilis treated by Electro.
pyrexia, Med. J. Aust.
(6 January 1937). His biography in Med. J. Aust.
records that on presentation of his main paper on endocrines he was
given an ovation by an appreciative medical audience in Sydney, and
that visiting overseas specialists recognized Dr Prior’s high status in
that aspect of medical research.

Collector
of the type of Eucalyptus
ficifolia F. Muell. var. alba Maiden (1920).
He took a keen and energetic interest in the grounds and sporting
facilities of the institutions he controlled and the type of the
eucalypt variety cited above was collected in the grounds of the
Rydalmere Mental Hospital.